Disconnect safety switch

ABSTRACT

A safety switch for attachment to both a towing vehicle and a towed vehicle and operable to change its electrical state in the event that the two vehicles become mechanically decoupled and especially to energize electrically actuated brakes on the towed vehicle in the event of inadvertent disconnect is disclosed. The switch comprises a first member forming a switch shell having two contacts mounted therein and leads extending therefrom which when connected energize the brakes and a second two part member which slides within the first member when the vehicles are decoupled so as to connect the two contacts and then to allow separation of the two parts to prevent damage to the switch.

United States Patent Smith [58] Field Inventor:

, Assignee:

Filed:

Appl.

DISCONNECT SAFETY SWITCH Gregory A. Smith, North Webster, lnd.

US. Cl ..200/161, 200/166 SD, 280/432,

Int. Cl. ..l-l0lh 17/16, H0lh l7/l2 of Search ..200/161, 52 R, 166 SD; 340/275, 52 R; 280/432 References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 12/1942 Cadman ..200/161 X 8/1954 Sanda ..200/166 SD X 10/1965 Murdock ..200/161 X 11/1962 Jones et al. ..340/275 X 51 Aug. 1, 1972 Primary Examiner-Robert K. Schaefer Assistant Examiner-Robert A. Vanderhye Attorney-Jeffers & Rickert 5 7] ABSTRACT A safety switch for attachment to both a towing vehicle and a towed vehicle and operable to change its electrical state in the event that the two vehicles become mechanically decoupled and especially to energize electrically actuated brakes on the towed vehicle in the event of inadvertent disconnect is disclosed. The switch comprises a first member forming a switch shell having two contacts mounted therein and leads extending therefrom which when connected energize the brakes and a second two part member which slides within the first member when the vehicles are decoupled so as to connect the two contacts and then to allow separation of the two parts to prevent damage to the switch.

5 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures PATENTED B H97? 3.681.551

SHEET 1 0F 2 INVEN TOR GREGORY A. SMITH BY W ATTORNEYS Pmiminm 1 m2 3,681,551

SHEET 2 BF 2 may '1- I! "lhih- 1 ll 2| 3 INVENTOR GREGORY A. 5M

BY ATTORNEYS 1 DISCONNECT SAFETY SWITCH BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an electrical switch and more especially a single pole signal throw type of 5 switch which is actuated in response to two vehicles becoming mechanically disconnected to effect the energization of a safety feature such as setting the electrically actuated brakes on the towed vehicle. Such switches are not new and the prior art typically has a metallic switch housing permanently affixed to the towed vehicle and a cable running from a removable shaft in the switch housing to the towing vehicle. In the event that the two vehicles become inadvertently disconnected, the tension on the cable exceeds a prescribed amount (usually about 40 pounds) and pulls the shaft from the switch housing. The removal of the shaft allows two spring loaded contacts within the housing to form a connection and thus energize the electrical braking system. A single spring within the switch housing serves the dual purpose of forcing the two contacts together when the shaft is removed and of defining the force required to remove the shaft.

The known prior art switches suffer from a number of defects. The attachment of the switch housing to the towed vehicle is either completely fixed or at best such as to allow rotation only of the switch housing in a single plane. This motion restricting attachment of the switch housing to the towed vehicle may defeat the entire purpose of the switch for example, if the angle at which the tension in the connecting cable is applied differs substantially from the axis along which the pin is movable it may take several hundred pounds to dislodge the 40 pound detent on the pin and in fact the cable may snap rather than the pin being pulled in which case the switch of course is never actuated.

Accordingly, it is one object of the present invention to provide a safety switch which invariably is actuated at or near its rated value.

The prior art safety switch housings are typically stamped metallic parts and subject to substantial internal moisture condensation problems and this coupled with the fact that the contact make and brake motion in the prior art switches is a simple closing motion which is not effective to removecorrosion from the switch contacts often results in a switch which is not electrically effective even though its pin has been pulled.

Accordingly, it is another object of the present invention to provide a vehicle safety switch which is less subject to moisture and aging problems-than the prior art safety switches.

The prior art safety switches employ a large number of parts often of dissimilar materials and subject to corrosion.

Accordingly, it is a further object of the present ingize an electrical braking system or other safety feature movable contact across two relatively fixed contacts to which the switch leads are attached. Near the end of this wiping motion, the switch separates into two pieces thus preventing destruction of the switch each time it is actuated. One of these two separable pieces is attached to the towed vehicle in a manner to allow the free pivoting of the switch into the proper orientation and the other of these separable parts is flexibly attached to the towing vehicle so that when the two vehicles separate, the switch is drawn into proper orientation to be actuated rather than the flexible cable of the prior art being pulled at an improper angle so as to possibly break the cable rather than actuate the switch. The switch of the present invention is constructed throughout of nonmetallic materials such as Nylon or Delrin (except for the actual electrical contacts) so as to materially diminish the problems of condensation and corrosion.

It is therefore a salient object of the present invention to provide a condensation and corrosion resistant safety switch.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a safety switch having a wiping action between the contacts which further reduces contact corrosion problems.

Yetanother object of the.present invention is to provide a safety switch having a mechanical disconnect so that the switch is not damaged when actuated.

It is a specific object of the present invention to provide a safety switch having a universal motion attachment to a towed vehicle to insure switch actuation rather than breaking of some portion of the switch linkage when the two vehicles inadvertently separate.

These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will appear more clearly from the following detailed disclosure read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING of FIG. 3;

vention to provide a more economical vehicle safety switch.

It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a corrosion free switch.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIG. 3 except illustrating the switch in its second or actuated position; and

FIG. 6 is a view corresponding to FIG. 4 except illustrating the switch in its second or actuated position.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Turning first to FIG. 1 the safety switch of the present invention is seen to consist of a first member 11 which forms a shell or container for the present switch and has mounted therein first and second electrical contacts 13 and 15 respectively. These contacts have leads l7 and 19 attached thereto which are, of course, wired into the electrical system of the towed vehicle consists of a'first portion 23anda second portion 25 which are interlocked when the switch is in its first'or open'position asillustrated in FIGS. :3 and 4. Thus, the two; portions of thesecond member due to the interlocking; of the protrusion 27 and the grove29 are normally movable'together' until the second member is pulled sufficiently far out-of the first rnemberas illustrated'inFlGS. 5 and 6 to allow the disengagement of the secondportion 25 from the first portion 23.

1 The'switch housing or shell 11 is also illustrated as havinga top '31 which fastens to the shell 11 by means of a series of screws, however, inthe preferred form of manufacture, thistop'would be molded as an integral part of the shell ll preferably in a hingable fashion so as to allow assembly of the internal parts and subsequentfolding over .ofthe top portion to be sealed to the shell somewhat in the manner of assembly taught in the copending application by Shroyer Ser.v No.

813,610, entitled "TI-IERMO-PLASTIC LAMP I-IOL- DER? now U.S. Pat. No. 3,581,270- dated May 25, 1971-.

"1 The first portion 23which always remains within the I shell llis illustrated as a bifurcated structure having two branches 33 and 35 each of which has an indentation 37. and 39 respectively- A cursory inspection of FIG. 3 shows that the indentations 37 and 39 are adapted to intermesh with protruding portions 41 and 43 on the shell 11 when the second member is in its first or normal (open) position. The first and second portions of the second member when interlocked not only have their protrusion and grooveinterlocked but. also have a pairof surfaces 45 and 47 in intimate contact.

The function of these surfaces as well as the function of the holes 49 and 51 will appear more clearly from the subsequent discussion of the remaining figures of the drawing.

Referring briefly to FIG. 2, the aperture 51 has passed therethrough apivotable connecting means 53 which in turn is attached to the towed vehicle for example by threading the shaft of the connecting means 53 and bolting it to the frame of the towed vehicle which may beby way of example a large travel trailer. This pivotable connecting means allows the switch a virthird electrical contact 21 is shorting out the first and I I tually universal motion sothat it may follow where ever a flexible connecting means such as a cable 5 5 may lead it. This, of course, overcomes the above noted prior art deficiency and always insures that the pull exerted by the cable 55 will be in the proper direction for actuating theswitch. This flexible connecting means or cable 55 may be directly passed through the aperture 49 was an alternative a chain 57 may constitute some or all of this connecting means. Clearly, a few links of a similar chain could be relied on to connect the aperture 51 with theframe of the towed vehicle. The cable 55 of course is connected to some point on the towing vehi cle such, for example, as the bumper on an automobile.

As can be seen from FIG. 2,'sufficient tension on the cable 55 will result in actuation of the safety switch as is more clearly describable in reference to FIGS. 3

- through6.

Considering first FIGS. 3. and "(which illustrate he switch inits first position which is the normal position with the contacts 13 and 15 not being shorted out by the third electrical contact 21. In this position, the protuberances 41 and 43 are intermeshed with the pair of mating indentations in the branchesofthe bifurcation of the first portion 23. Clearly, the interrneshing of these protuberances and indentations impedes the removal or movement of the first portion'23 to the right 1 as illustrated relative to the shell or container ll. Con sidering FIGS. 2 and 3 together, it should be clear that force applied between the pivotable connecting means 53 and the flexible connecting means 55 which tendsl'to urge the first portion23 to slide (thi'sis the only motion it is free to execute) towardlthe right will also cause the two branches '33 and 35 to bend toward 'one another. By varying the materials used and the dimensions of the protuberances and indentations almost any fthreshold level desired maybe established beyond which tension onthe two connecting means willcause the detenting effect to be overcome andwill allow the first portion to move rightwardly as shown and will effect a transitiorr from the position illustrated in FIGS. 3 and,4 to the I second position illustrated in FIGS. 5 and 6. A desirav ble threshold level is 40 pounds.v In FIGS. 5 and- 6,the

second electrical contacts1l3 and 15 thus indicating to the towed vehicle a stop or emergency situation. In ef-. fecting the transition between these two positions, it

should also be clear that the contact 21 executes a wiping motion across the contacts 13 and 15 and this tends to. clean the surfaces for better electrical connec; tion, thus, overcoming another of the above mentioned prior art defects. The relative configurationsofthe shell 11 and the first portion 23 of course limit the possible relative motion of these two items to the linear motion between that depictedin FIG. 3 a nd that de-' picted in FIG. 5. Thus, sliding motion only is allowed between these two members.

, Similarly, sliding motion only is allowed betweenthe shell 11 an d the second portion 25 at least so l ong as the firstand second members arein the relativepositions illustrated in FIG. 4. On thecontrary, the'second portion 25 is in no way restrictedin its movement when its position relative to the shell 11 is that illustrated in FIG. 6. Hence, while thesec'ond member may slide only relative to the first member in executing a portion of the transmission from the first position illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4 tothe second position illustrated 'in FIGS. 5 and 6 there is some pointalong this transtitionalprocess where the second portion'25 becomes readily separable from the first portion '23 and in fact when this point is reached a novelgmeans for disengaging the first and second portions becomes effective to save the safety switch from total destruction.

As noted in the discussion of FIG; 1, the first and second portions are provided with gently sloping portions 45 andv47 which are in intimate contact as illus trated in FIG. 4. As soon as the second portion 25 is free to separate from the first portion 23 any slight pull as, for example, on the flexible cable 55 will result in these two pieces disengaging. To see why this is true, consider first a force applied to the secondportion 25 along the vector A as illustrated in FIG. 6. Force's applied to the second portion 25 along the vector A create a fulcrum between the surfaces 45 and 47 near the tip of the member 23 and illustratedas F The member 25 is so dimensioned that further pull along the vector A rotates the member 25 in a counterclockwise direction as viewed and immediately extracts the interlocking protrusion or key portion 27 from the groove 29, thus, allowing the second portion to fall away freely. On the other hand, assume that the two portions are still interlocked and that the second portion 25 experiences a tensional force along the vector B. Under these circumstances, the second portion 25 will experience a slight rotational movement in the clockwise direction and a fulcrum will be created within the groove 29 and specifically at that portion of the groove which is touching one point on the interlocking key 27 denominated as F, in FIG. 6. Making the inside of the groove 29 sufficiently smooth and of the appropriate material or sloping the edge of the groove 29 somewhat is sufficient to allow the key 27 to slide down and out of the groove in response to forces along the vector B. A triangularly shaped groove 29 and corresponding triangular key 27 could of course be used to effect this same result, however, the configuration illustrated has been found adequate to prevent damage to the switch. Thus, it can be seen that the two portions 23 and 25 of the second member are interlocked when the switch is in the first position as illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4 but are completely free of one another when the switch has effected the transition to its second position as illustrated in FIGS. 5 and 6.

. Thus, while the present invention has been described with respect to a specific embodiment, numerous.

modifications will suggest themselves to those of ordinary skill in the art and accordingly the scope of the present invention is to be measured only by that of the appended claims.

lclaim:

l. A safety switch for attachment to both a towing vehicle and a towed vehicleand operable to change its electrical state in the event that the two vehicles become mechanically decoupled comprising:

first and second relatively movable members, said first member being pivotally attachable to said towed vehicle and said second member comprising two portions the first of which is confined'within said first member for sliding motion only relative thereto and the second of which is flexibly attachable to said towing vehicle;

first and second electrical contacts supported by said first member;

a third electrical contact supported by said second member first portion and adapted to electrically disconnect said first and second contacts when said second member is in a first position relative to said first and second contacts when said second member is in a second position relative to said first member, the two portions of the second member being readily separable in said second position and relatively inseparable in said first position, said second portion of said second member being also confined within said first member for sliding motion only relative thereto when said second member is in said first position relative to said first member and said second member being free of said first member when said second member is in said second position relaltiveto said irst m mber. 2. The switch of claim 1 w eremsald irst an second said second position in response to tensional forces between said flexible connecting means and said pivotable connecting means in excess of a predetermined threshold but does not yield in response to lesser tensional forces.

5. The switch of claim 3 wherein said first portion of said second member is bifurcated, said detent means comprising a pair of protuberances internal to saidfirst member and extending generally toward one another, and a mating pair of indentations one in each branch of said bifurcation, said protuberances and said indentations being intermeshed when said second member is in said first position relative to said first member, said branches yielding toward one another in response to transition urging forces exceeding a predetermined threshold so as to disengage said protuberances from said indentations and allow said second member to execute the transition from said first position to said said first member and to electrically interconnect 

1. A safety switch for attachment to both a towing vehicle and a towed vehicle and operable to change its electrical state in the event that the two vehicles become mechanically decoupled comprising: first and second relatively movable members, said first member being pivotally attachable to said towed vehicle and said second member comprising two portions the first of which is confined within said first member for sliding motion only relative thereto and the second of which is flexibly attachable to said towing vehicle; first and second electrical contacts supported by said first member; a third electrical contact supported by said second member first portion and adapted to electrically disconnect said first and second contacts when said second member is in a first position relative to said first member and to electrically interconnect said first and second contacts when said second member is in a second position relative to said first member, the two portions of the second member being readily separable in said second position and relatively inseparable in said first position, said second portion of said second member being also confined within said first member for sliding motion only relative thereto when said second member is in said first position relative to said first member and said second member being free of said first member when said second member is in said second position relative to said first member.
 2. The switch of claim 1 wherein said first and second portions interlock when said second portion is confined within said first member and further comprising means for disengaging said first and second portion when said second portion is no longer confined within said first member.
 3. The switch of claim 1 further comprising detent means associated with said first and second members for impeding the transition from said first position to said second position.
 4. The switch of claim 3 wherein said detent means yields allowing the transition from said first position to said second position in response to tensional forces between said flexible connecting means and said pivotable connecting means in excess of a predetermined threshold but does not yield in response to lesser tensional forces.
 5. The switch of claim 3 wherein said first portion of said second member is bifurcated, said detent means comprising a pair of protuberances internal to said first member and extending generally toward one another, and a mating pair of indentations one in each branch of said bifurcation, said protuberances and said indentations being intermeshed when said second member is in said first position relative to said first member, said branches yielding toward one another in response to transition urging forces exceeding a predetermined threshold so as to disengage said protuberances from said indentations and allow said second member to execute the transition from said first position to said second position relative to said first member. 